The Impact of Mountain Waves on an Idealized Baroclinically Unstable Large-Scale Flow

Abstract

Abstract The feedback of mountain waves and low-level blocking on an idealized baroclinically unstable wave passing over an isolated ridge is examined through numerical simulation. Theoretical analysis implies that the volume-integrated perturbation momentum budget is dominated by mean-flow deceleration, the divergence of vertical fluxes of horizontal momentum, and the Coriolis force acting on the perturbation ageostrophic wind. These do indeed appear as the dominant balances in numerically computed budgets averaged over layers containing 1) wave breaking in the lower stratosphere, 2) flow blocking with wave breaking near the surface, and 3) a region of pronounced horizontally averaged mean-flow deceleration in the upper troposphere where there is no wave breaking. The local impact of wave breaking on the jet in the lower stratosphere is dramatic, with winds in the jet core reduced by almost 50% relative to the no-mountain case. Although it is the layer with the strongest average deceleration, the local patches of decelerated flow are weakest in the upper troposphere. The cross-mountain pressure drag over a 2-km-high ridge greatly exceeds the vertical momentum flux at mountain-top level because of low-level wave breaking, blocking, and lateral flow diversion. These pressure drags and the low-level momentum fluxes are significantly different from corresponding values computed for simulations with steady forcing matching the instantaneous conditions over the mountain in the evolving large-scale flow.